This medieval earthwork sits on a gentle rise in the landscape, its grass-covered platform measuring 42 metres on each side. The surrounding moats, now filled in but still visible as shallow depressions, are between 6.5 and 8 metres wide, though only 20 to 40 centimetres deep after centuries of silting and infilling.

Historical maps tell an intriguing story about this site’s interpretation over time. The 1839 Ordnance Survey map shows it as a rectangular embanked or moated enclosure, whilst the 1924 edition depicts something rather more elaborate; a rectangular enclosure with two moats, suggesting overall dimensions of approximately 70 metres. However, modern archaeological examination has found no evidence of this second moat, leaving questions about whether it ever existed or was perhaps a cartographer’s misinterpretation of other landscape features.

These moated sites are scattered across the Irish countryside, particularly in Leinster, and were typically constructed between the 13th and 14th centuries. They served as defended homesteads for Anglo-Norman colonists and prosperous Irish families, with the water-filled moats providing both practical defence and a display of status. The Knockmarshal site, recorded in Barry’s 1977 survey as WX 81, represents one of many such earthworks that dot the Wexford landscape, silent reminders of medieval settlement patterns and the complex social dynamics of Norman and Gaelic Ireland.